By Julia Gardiner
Imagine finding an old wooden box with brass hinges covered in dust in the attic. Inside, yellowed pages creased many times over are mixed with drawings, fragments of flowers and ticket stubs: a box of love letters, intimate and private, now open to foreign eyes.
Bill Shapiro attempts to open that tantalizing box for the public with “Other People’s Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See.”
The letters range from the classic and sincere, “And I shall love you until I draw my last breath, and beyond,” to the bizarre and obscure “I bought whip cream,” to the downright raunchy and lustful, “I’m thinking about that time you tied me down to your bed.”
When Shapiro promises “the full range of modern love,” he delivers. Nearly every situation that warrants correspondence between lovers is covered in a letter-divorce, break-up, new love, one-night stands, adultery and rejection. However, without a face or description to accompany the words, it is difficult to identify with the subjects of each little story.
With a collection of original, hand-written or typed, correspondences similar to Post Secret, the reader gains a unique third-person perspective into the lives and relationships of strangers. The collection feeds a voyeuristic interest in the secrets of others. However, the intention is to create a parallel to the experiences and emotions of the observer.
Undoubtedly, anyone who has ever been in a relationship will find something to relate to, even if it is a painful break-up note or a simple text-messaged, “I love you.” Essentially, the situations remain the same for everyone.
The letters are reproduced exactly from the originals, often scanned in with folds, coffee-stains, dog-ears and all. Many are printed from e-mail or photographs of cell-phone screens; these are not the ancient epistles of our grandparents. Every effort was made to have modern readers look into themselves and their relationships as they are reflected in the experiences of others.
However, the parallel seems forced and lacks in poignancy. Rather than getting that warm-and-fuzzy emotional feeling, readers rather get a sense of emptiness. The lack of originality and repetition in the book intended to reflect a common, powerful thread of love and connection running through all lives instead makes whatever experiences readers have had seem less meaningful, because they are shared with so little variation by so many others.
It is a lovely coffee-table book to pick up with a few spare minutes and to skim through; however, readers should not expect to find insightful, emotional understanding within the pages. The insight into the lives of others is interesting and entertaining, as it always is-if it weren’t, Americans wouldn’t be obsessed with Britney’s custody battle or Nicole Richie’s baby. However, Shapiro is overstating the substance and value of the material.
Ultimately, the book really has nothing new or original to say.
“Other People’s Love Letters”By Bill ShapiroOct. 30, 2007192 pagesClarkson Potter PublishersThree Stars out of Five